Monday, December 10, 2018

Trumpian Troubles with Making America Great Again - 'anyone can grow up and become Individual-1'

The title of this post is inspired by a tweet from Preet Bharara, the fired U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York - with thanks to George Conway for resistance to Trump. George Conway, you probably know, is husband to KellyAnne Conway, one of Trump’s reiterators. Now Cleve Woodson at the Washington post reports thatGeorge Conway blasts Trump’s claim that Cohen filing ‘totally clears the President’.

On Friday, as The Washington Post’s Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky reported, federal prosecutors offered new evidence that implicated the president in plans to buy the silence of two women Trump allegedly had affairs with as far back as 2014. The documents also spoke of Russian efforts to forge a political alliance with Trump before he became president.

But Conway was among the most vocal in pointing out how wrong the phrase “totally clears the president” is.

George Conway
@gtconway3d
Except for that little part where the US Attorney’s Office says that you directed and coordinated with Cohen to commit two felonies. Other than that, totally scot-free.

Conway then proceeded to spend the rest of his Friday night focusing his Twitter on the Trump-as-potential-felon theme.

He retweeted a link from satirical site the Onion: “Giuliani Insists Breaking the Law Not a Crime.” He shared a Nixon-era headline “President: ‘I’m not a crook,’ retweeting presidential historian Michael Beschloss’s analysis: “What’s old is new again.” He also retweeted former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, who said “The real news . . . is about the conclusion by federal prosecutors that Donald J. Trump has committed a serious felony.” And he shared a lengthier take by former assistant attorney general Jack Goldsmith: “One struggles to see how a document that alleges that such conduct took place at the direction of Individual–1 ‘totally clears the president.’”

Even Conway’s correct spelling of “scot-free” may have been a dig at Trump and his head-scratching use of the phrase “Scott Free” earlier in the week.

walter dellinger
@walterdellinger
Corrected: The United States Department of Justice filing today with the court leads to the unmistakable conclusion that President of the United States has committed felonies. This will mark the beginning of the end.

Friday’s criticism was one-sided, but it hasn’t always been that way. This week, for example, the president’s son Eric Trump wrote on Twitter that Conway’s constant criticism of the president shows “utter disrespect” to his wife.

"Of all the ugliness in politics, the utter disrespect George Conway shows toward his wife, her career, place of work, and everything she has fought SO hard to achieve, might top them all,” Eric Trump wrote on Twitter.

Kellyanne Conway is a “great person,” he added, and her husband’s actions “are horrible.”

As The Post’s Antonia Noori Farzan reported, Eric Trump’s words came shortly after Conway accused the president of witness tampering during a Monday morning tweetstorm where he seemed to be discouraging longtime adviser Roger Stone from testifying against him.

But Conway’s words on Friday weren’t all doom and gloom and indictments and impeachment. He also included a sardonically inspiring tweet from Preet Bharara, the fired U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York:

“Inspiring reminder: In America anyone can grow up and become Individual–1”